As early as two months ago, Zhang Xuan sent a secret envoy to Luoyang by Liu Li, a soldier in the King of Qi's mansion, to pass on a handwritten letter from Zhang Xuan to Wang Shichong.

In the letter, Zhang Xuan put forward a suggestion and a reminder, and the suggestion was that the Sui and Zheng sides jointly attack Jingzhou, the Zheng army attacked Xiangyang, and the Sui army attacked Jiangxia, and then the seven counties in Jingbei were divided equally.

Another one is to remind Wang Shi to be careful of the Tang army opening up the Nanxiang Road and suggest that he send heavy troops to deploy defense.

Wang Shichong accepted Zhang Xuan's reminder and immediately sent another 30,000 to Xiyang County, so that the troops in Xiyang County reached 60,000 to strictly prevent the Tang army from moving south from Shangluo County.

As for Zhang Xuan's proposal to jointly suppress Jingzhou, Wang Shichong did not reply. However, not replying does not mean that he is not moved. It is just that he needs to wait and see and wait for the opportunity. For this reason, Wang Shichong kept the secret strictly, and even his brother Wang Shiyun had never seen the letter secretly sent by Zhang Xuan.

The time finally came. Just when the Sui army and Li Xiaogong's Tang army confronted Fushui, Wang Shichong took the excuse of inspecting the customs of the people in various places and drove to Nanyang County in person and stayed in Nanyang Palace. He secretly transferred 20,000 troops from Xiyang County and Luoyang to Nanyang. In addition, Nanyang County itself had 10,000 troops, so that the troops of Nanyang County had reached 50,000.

However, Wang Shichong did a very secretive job, and the 40,000 troops transferred were stationed on the edge of Nanyang County, which made Xiangyang County unable to feel that Wang Shichong had increased his troops in Nanyang. Wang Shichong also sent a large number of spies to Xiangyang City, paying attention to the every move of the Tang army in Xiangyang at any time.

Early this morning, Wang Shichong had just gotten up and two palace maids were serving him to wash up. At this time, the eunuch's report came from outside the hall, "Report to Your Majesty, Xiangyang has sent emergency information!"

Wang Shichong was excited and hurriedly said, "Let me show it quickly."

A eunuch quickly walked into the room and presented a piece of information to Wang Shichong. Wang Shichong took the information and looked carefully. He stood up and shouted, "Come on!"

The two palace maids and the eunuch who delivered the letter were so scared that they knelt down and kowtowed together. Wang Shichong realized that he was a little out of control and smiled and said, "I am just so happy. Get up and wash me quickly. I have important things to deal with."

The palace maid and the eunuch stood up tremblingly and quickly finished washing Wang Shichong. Wang Shichong put on a regular dress and walked out of the inner palace quickly and came to the temporary imperial study in front.

Not long after, the prime minister King Shiyun, Minister of War Yun Dingxing, General Wang Renze, Wang Xingben, Tian Zan, Guo Shiheng, Yang Gongqing, Zhang Tonger and other major officials and generals rushed to meet.

"Dear friends, the reason why I am so anxious to call you here is that I have a major matter to discuss with you."

Wang Shichong paused his tone and watched everyone listen to his words humbly. He liked this feeling of being arrogant.

"I just received a quick report from Xiangyang. The warrior led 20,000 troops to Jiangxia to fight with the Sui army. There are only 3,000 defenders left in Xiangyang. This is our opportunity. I have stationed 50,000 troops in Nanyang County, so I am waiting for this opportunity."

Wang Shichong said it was a discussion, but in fact he had already decided to send troops, but he wanted to hear the opinions of everyone in detail. Everyone understood this in their hearts. Otherwise, the emperor would not have visited Nanyang County in the south. He stayed in the palace for nearly half a month and blocked all news, obviously just to send troops.

Wang Renze knew his uncle's intention better and asked carefully and tentatively: "Since there are only 3,000 people in Xiangyang County, I think the 50,000 troops are a bit like killing chickens and slaughtering knives, unless Your Majesty wants to."

Wang Shichong smiled and said, "You are right. How can a Xiangyang County satisfy me? Since it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, we naturally have to get the greatest benefit. Zhang Xuan promised me three counties, Xiangyang County, Chongling County and Handong County. I can accept Xiangyang County, but Chongling County and Handong County are both mountainous areas, with sparse populations and many mountains and few fields. More importantly, there is no room for expansion here, so I don't plan to ask these two counties, but go south to seize Jingling County and Nan County. In fact, it doesn't matter whether Jingling County wants it, but it is an important channel connecting Nan County and Xiangyang County. It won't work without it."

Everyone was stunned when they heard this. The emperor actually wanted Nanjun. Nanjun was the core county of Jingnan and Xiangyang was the core county of Jingbei. Both counties wanted to be taken over by themselves. Will Zhang Xuan agree?

Yun Dingxing couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty, Nanjun is a big deal. Should we send someone to communicate with Zhang Xuan first to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings between the two sides."

Wang Shichong's face suddenly became gloomy and he said coldly: "I am also a county of a country. Do I need to look at other people's faces when doing something?"

Yun Dingxing was so scared that he lowered his head and said, "I don't mean this. I am worried that the two sides will not have a tacit understanding. The army will meet in Nanjun and a war breaks out. The result will only be a waste of the Tang Dynasty. I believe this is also the result that Your Majesty does not want to see."

Wang Shichong's face was a little calmer and said slowly: "I sent someone to Nanjun to investigate. Maybe no one expected that the Sui army had not entered Nanjun yet, but Li Xiaogong's 20,000 troops retreated to Nanjun. This is why I had to assemble a 50,000 army. We cannot take Nanjun so easily. We must face a battle with the Tang army. As for Zhang Xuan's side, his target is not the south, but the Hexi Corridor and Longyou, so we become a buffer between him and the Tang Dynasty, and I think he will be happy to see it."

Tian Zan beside him said with great conscience: "Your Majesty's eyes are far-reaching, and it is not within our foolish ministers. I fully support Your Majesty's decision."

Wang Shichong nodded and said, "This is indeed a big problem that I have considered for a whole year. Our territory is already difficult to expand. The only way out is to go south. When taking Nanjun, the entire southern gate is open to us. I might as well tell you a secret. After taking Nanjun, I plan to rename Jiangling to Nanjing as our second capital. Therefore, taking Nanjun is the top priority of our southern expedition. At all costs, we are bound to win Nanjun."

"Your Majesty is wise!" Everyone bowed and saluted.

Wang Shichang immediately dispatched troops and generals. Fifty thousand Zheng troops were divided into three routes to attack Xiangyang County, one route led by Yang Gongqing, the other route led by Guo Shiheng to attack Jingling County, the third route was the main force, and Wang Renze and Wang Xingben led by 40,000 troops to attack Nanjun.

Of course, it is impossible to advance simultaneously, and the three armies will concentrate on attacking Xiangyang City first.

Two days later, 50,000 Zheng troops gathered in Xinye County and rushed into Xiangyang County in a mighty manner.

Zhou Ting'an, the governor of Xiangyang, urgently asked Chang'an and Jiangxia for rescue by sending a message from Fei Ge.

In the war in the south, the annual imperial examination was over in Zhongdu and Chang'an. Compared with the last imperial examination, this imperial examination was a bit dull. First, there were no more outstanding talents, and second, the imperial examination was also more orderly. More importantly, the atmosphere of war greatly diluted people's interest and attention to this imperial examination, which was particularly obvious in Chang'an.

Since the Sui and Tang dynasties entered a state of war in the south, the entire Chang'an has been shrouded in a faint uneasy and turmoil. The most typical manifestation is that prices are rising slowly. Although they are not soaring, they have a great support. Moreover, prices are rising across the board, from food, rice, oil, salt, food, clothing, housing and transportation, prices are rising.

In fact, this is inevitable. Once a war breaks out, a large amount of resources will inevitably be consumed, such as food, meat, pig iron, livestock, cloth and other bulk materials. These resources must be supplied to the army in large quantities, so there will naturally be fewer among the people, and rising prices will be inevitable.

However, everyone is also used to the impact of this kind of impact on life caused by war, but the impact of war is not only in prices, but also in the confidence of the people and in the public opinion of the government and the public. When the Sui army captured Baling County and the news that Li Xiaogong was forced to withdraw from Yuzhang County to Jiangxia spread in the court and the country, the people were in a big uproar. The Tang army retreated to Jiangxia north, which meant that the Tang army failed in the eastern expedition, and the streets and alleys were filled with dissatisfaction with the Tang army.

At noon that day, Qingyun Restaurant was crowded with officials who came to eat as usual. In an elegant room on the third floor, seven or eight officials from the Ministry of War were gathering together for a drink. These officials had different positions, including doctors, official widows, chief clerks, and recorders. Everyone ordered more than a dozen dishes and three pots of wine. While drinking and eating, they were talking about the government affairs in a low voice.

A man from the Wai Lang asked: "Jiang Jun, you have the most information. What is the situation in the south now? I heard that Prince Zhao led his army to Jiangxia, but what was the final result? There was no news. Are you still in a confrontation now?"

The official named Jiang is Jiang Qingde, who is over 40 years old and serves as a doctor in the Ministry of Veterans. He is the highest-ranking official of all officials. Moreover, he has a good personal relationship with Zhao Cijing, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, and can get some top-secret news.

Perhaps it was because he drank a few more drinks and his mind was a little hot, or perhaps it was because everyone's expectations satisfy Jiang Qingde's vanity, making him feel that he would not show his superiority without revealing any news.

Jiang Qingde drank the wine in his glass and sneered repeatedly: "Now he is still talking about Li Xiaogong's retreat to Jiangxia north. When has it happened? Let me tell you that something big happened to Jiangxia long ago."
Chapter completed!